Sir Walter Scott once said, “I care not who knows it–I write for the general amusement.”  Which must be how many of the Olympians feel this week, knowing they are not on pace for a World Record but they will have fun–in the pool, on the track, on the beach, on the course.  Even Katie...Read More

From Amicus Scriptor, August 28, 2015:   Although I fully retired from the practice of law a few months ago, as we approach September I again feel — as I do every year — the “back-to-school” excitement of my youth. New teacher! New clothes! (Well, at least a new uniform!) New school supplies!Read More

    It’s officially summer. Although it’s been almost 40 years since it mattered, every May and June feels like the end of the school year. Tired of studying. Tired of the “required” reading. Tired of talking about school subjects, about mock arguments, practice trials, law notes, senior papers. Looking forward to a summer job...Read More

  “How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterwards.” So says the Spanish proverb, loaded as it is with spiritual instruction on humility, the passing of time, the transience of footprints on the beach. Beautiful, perhaps, but difficult.Read More

“Someday is now.” That’s attorney Ruth Kaufman’s motto, but ironically, her “now” is 1453, Henry VI is king, and what we now call the Wars of the Roses will soon begin. The king sends Sir Nicholas Gray to protect the recently widowed lady Amice Winfield from undesirable suitors. Though Nicholas is intrigued by her (and...Read More

    You think by now we’d be over it. How many times have we been told, it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game? That we play for the love of the game, that even reputedly “very talented” teams can hit a losing streak?Read More

      Delay. Delay. Delay. Some say it’s the essence of dramatic writing. Unlike expository writing, where the first sentence of each paragraph pretty much sums up the point to be made, each sentence in dramatic writing leads the reader to the next sentence so that the reader is forced to read on —...Read More

In my last column (“A ‘know-it-all’ approach to writing,” June 27), I wrote about Colm Toibin’s advice that a writer should know the whole story before writing his or her novel. Since I’ve always discovered the story by writing it, this for me would be a new way of working — but one I’m willing...Read More

June 27, 2014 For two years now, we’ve been writing about crafting your first novel and I have insisted that you don’t need to know your whole story in order to begin.  This has worked for me through the process of writing a dozen novels, but recently I heard Colm Tóibín (Brooklyn, The Testament of...Read More

April 25, 2014 One of the comforts of being a writer is getting to write. But as soon as you publish those carefully chosen words, you’re suddenly expected to become a speaker. Lawyers have the advantage in this regard of having developed their presentation skills, but courtroom drama and negotiating-table dramatics are slightly different arts...Read More